Battle of Baghdad (2003)

The battle of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, took place between 3 to 9 April 2003. A part of the invasion against Iraq by the United States and coalition forces in 2003, eventually leading to the Iraq War. This marked the end of Saddam Hussein's regime, later captured by US forces, and Baghdad under coalition control. It is also called the fall of Baghdad by some sources.^[7][8][9]

On 11 September, 2001, four attacks, including two World Trade Centers buildings, the Pentagon complex, and a plane crash (by al-Qaeda terrorists) in Pennsylvania have been executed. 2,997 lives have lost including 19 terrorists, making it the deadliest attacks on US soil. Then-US President George W. Bush have passed major acts regarding national security including the controversial PATRIOT Act which allowed federal workers to access US citizens' information and data, sparked protests and privacy violations around the United States.

United States Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) on 18 September, 2001, a week later after the terrorist attacks. This act allows the president to send the military to fight against terrorism. In 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, leading to a nearly 20 years war and the longest conflict in US history. In 2002, President Bush added Iraq in the axis of evil under Saddam Hussein.

On 20 March, 2003, the US and the United Kingdom-led coalition forces invaded Iraq. The US accused of Iraq having and carrying weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) under Saddam Hussein, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said to the United Nations that Iraq was holding WMDs, years later found no WMDs built in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. And Hussein's execution faced moral challenges by groups like Human Rights Watch.^[10]

• Fall of Saigon
• Fall of Kabul (2021)
• Fall of Damascus

1. ↑ Woods, Kevin M. (2009). Iraqi Perspectives Project: A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam's Senior Leadership (PDF). United States Joint Forces Command, Joint Center for Operational Analysis. p. 145; 210. ISBN 978-0-9762550-1-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2010.
2. ↑ Iraq Coalition Casualties: Military Fatalities Archived March 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
3. ↑ "On April 4, 5th RCT ran into several hundred fedayeen from Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East and Africa. The result was wholesale slaughter, but the cost was considerable: two Abrams tanks were destroyed by the attackers, while numerous vehicles sustained damage from RPG fire. The marines killed a senior general from the Republican Guard ... In addition, marine tankers destroyed twelve to fifteen T-72s and T-55s as well as numerous 37mm anti-aircraft guns, which the Iraqis attempted to use against advancing marines." The Iraq War, Wiiliamson Murray, Robert Scales, p.225, Harvard University Press, 2005
4. ↑ Myers, Steven Lee (April 7, 2003). "Iraqi Missile Hits Army Base". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
5. ↑ "Wages of War – Appendix 1. Survey and assessment of reported Iraqi combatant fatalities in the 2003 War". comw.org. Archived from the original on September 2, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
6. ↑ Iraqi Death Toll, Health Perils Assessed by Medical Group Archived June 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
7. ↑ "Baghdad falls to U.S. forces | April 9, 2003". HISTORY. 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
8. ↑ Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith (2023-02-21). "Baghdad memories: what the first few months of the US occupation felt like to an Iraqi". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
9. ↑ "Remembering the Fall of Baghdad". Middle East Monitor. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
10. ↑ "Iraq: Saddam Hussein Put to Death | Human Rights Watch". 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2025-07-09.